Author: Loree Burns

CHICKY CHICKY CHOOK CHOOK
By Cathy MacLennan
Boxer Books, 2007

Category: Picture book

Remember the pile of birthday books for my soon-to-be-two niece? I needed a fifth and you all gave me some great suggestions. Thank you, thank you. All of them are on my list and several will surely be in her book piles in years to come. But I came across CHICKY CHICKY CHOOK CHOOK this week and I simply couldn’t resist.

“Chicky, chicky, chook chook.
Chick, chick chick.

Chicky, chicky, chook chook,
Peck … peck … pick.”

Oh, yes. I can imagine our Little Miss rollicking to this one. Yes. Yes. Yes. The illustrations, like the onomatopoeic text, are jaunty and fun. Rhythm, art, a simple and relevant plot … this is pure read-aloud fun for the toddler set, and just what I needed to round out the 2007 Birthday Booklist.

 

HAPPY BIRTH DAY!
By Robie H. Harris
Illustrated by Michael Emberley
Candlewick Press, 1996

Category: Picture book

There are weeks when being a writer is hard. Like last week, when I had four projects screaming for attention, three children screaming for attention, and not enough time to do any of them justice. Blech.

And then there are weeks like this one. My writing buddies have helped me focus my project load and I am making good progress on the one needing the most attention. (Thank you, Eric and Liza!) This afternoon I had my first ever television interview and I feel good about how it went. Somehow I have an abundance of alone time on my schedule this week and I might—just might—finish the aforementioned project before leaving for the New England SCBWI Spring Conference in Nashua on Friday. As if all this weren’t enough excitement, I also get to meet Robie Harris on Thursday!

Could the week get any better?

Not surprisingly, I have been exploring Robie’s books all week; I am utterly smitten with HAPPY BIRTH DAY! It is the intimate story of one baby’s birth, and it was impossible for me to read it and not remember the birth days of my own three children. Michael Emberley’s illustrations are lovely and help make HAPPY BIRTH DAY!—like all the books by this author/illustrator team—an accurate and compelling resource for children who want to know a little bit more about the day they were born.

If you live near Holden, Massachusetts, you should stop by and hear Robie speak on Thursday (details below). If you are too far away, check back for a recap of the event on my blog later in the week. And in the meanwhile, treat yourself to one or two of Robie Harris’s books. You deserve a treat, don’t you?

The Gale Free Library presents:

Robie Harris
Thursday, May 17, 6:30pm
Holden Senior Center
1130 Main Street
Holden, MA 01520

 

THE CREATION, AN APPEAL TO SAVE LIFE ON EARTH
By E.O. Wilson
W.W. Norton & Company, 2007

Category: Adult Non-fiction

I am reading a lot of non-fiction these days. It started out as an Earth Day thing … I had several environmentally-themed books I had been wanting to read, and Earth Day seemed a good reason to start in on them. And I haven’t been able to stop.

Anyhoo …

Edward O. Wilson has a simple idea. Instead of focusing on the differences between those of us who praise reason and those of us who praise religion, why not focus on that which we hold in common: a dependence on Earth’s biodiversity. Wilson argues that rallying around one inescapable truth—that we humans have a profound impact our environment—will not only breed respect and understanding, but also help to save life on earth.

I applaud Wilson’s idea and recommend his book to anyone interested in a naturalist’s view of the state of our planet. But there were other reasons the book fascinated me. It is chock full of information that shocked my sense of magnitude. For example, did you know that:

“It is mathematically possible to log-stack all the people on Earth into a single block of one cubic mile and lower them out of sight in a remote part of the Grand Canyon.”

Clearly I have underestimated the scale of the Grand Canyon. Or perhaps I have overestimated the pervasive-ness of humankind? Does this statement leave anyone else with their mouth hanging open?

I’ll leave you with a final quote from THE CREATION.

“The power of science comes not from scientists but from its method.”

Amen to that.

 

LITTLE PEA
By Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Illustrated by Jen Corace
Chronicle Books, 2005

Category: Picture book

My niece turns two this month, and the kids and I have been selecting her birthday books. Okay, well, I guess I have been selecting her books. Everyone else is supremely busy with school and baseball and T-ball and spring. All of which is fine by me, of course, because picking books is my thing.

I read LITTLE PEA when it first came out, and it has become one of my favorite toddler gift books. It is an irresistible concept … Little Pea must finish his dinner before getting dessert. Mama Pea and Papa Pea insist. (Sound familiar?) Yuck! Blech! Plck! Pleh! Little Pea chokes down his five bites, and is rewarded with his favorite desert. But Rosenthal and Corace have turned the familiar dinner time battle inside out, and the result is a round, green chuckle-fest for all ages. I’d love to tell you more, but I can’t bear to spoil the surprise. Read it for yourself!

The other titles in our birthday pile?

ESTELLE TAKES A BATH, written by Jill Esbaum and illustrated by Mary Newell DePalma, and which I have mentioned before. (I cannot wait to see my brother-in-law’s reaction. Will he giggle? Will he blush?)

A GOOD DAY, written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes. Simple, beautiful, perfect. Sigh.

SCAREDY SQUIRREL, the 2007 Cybils award winner in the picture book category, written and illustrated by Melanie Watt. More giggles.

I’d like to add one more book. Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? Bring them on! And quickly, please, because the big day is just around the bend.